


Medieval Times

by 5stagesofdeniall



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2015-04-09
Packaged: 2018-03-21 23:19:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3707221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5stagesofdeniall/pseuds/5stagesofdeniall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"After forty five minutes of being at Medieval Times, Harry realized that he had been looking for cute guys in all the wrong places his whole life."</p>
<p>Liam and Harry celebrate Niall's birthday with a trip to Medieval Times. Louis is the handsome Blue Knight with dainty hands. And Zayn is the gorgeous waiter (and part-time matchmaker).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Medieval Times

“Wow. The technology from the Middle Ages is really impressive!” Harry nodded towards the flat screen TVs that welcomed guests to Medieval Times. He earned a generous snort from Niall, despite this being the fifth time he made that joke, and a loud sigh from Liam for that same reason. 

“Harry, I swear to god, if you make that stupid joke one more time…oof!”

Niall elbowed Liam to get him to shut up. “Oi, look at that, Li. ‘The castle has free wifi’!” He whipped out his phone, probably only to connect to the internet so he could post a medieval birthday selfie on Instagram.

Harry tried (really tried!) to contain himself, “I didn’t know they had wifi in the Middle Ages!” He must’ve said this louder than he thought, because a dad a few people ahead of the boys gave Harry a thumbs-up, earning an eye roll from his daughter. 

“I’m ignoring you.” Liam gave a dramatic eye roll that could put the preteen’s in front of him to shame!

“Wouljda stop being so dramatic, mate?” Niall clapped Liam on the back, “We’re about to find out what knight we’re rooting for.”

The actress, dressed as a wench, handing out crowns and table tickets had an amused smirk on her face. She must have been listening to the boys’ (loud) conversation, as were most people in line, judging by the chuckles and repetition of Harry’s joke. “Good evening to you, sirs!”

“‘Sup.” Liam nodded.

Harry gave a deep bow, “M'lady.”

“It’s my birthday today!” Niall smiled eagerly. Sometimes it was hard to remember that this boy was now 18 and not 8. 

“Oh is it?” The wench smiled back, using a voice one might use on a young, excitable child, “Make sure you sign up for the knighting ceremony once you get inside.” She put blue crowns on top of Harry and Niall’s heads and Liam’s snapback, then sent them to take a picture with the princess.

“Did I hear correctly?” The princess asked over her shoulder, facing away from the boys so she could fix her throne, “Is it someone’s birthday? Oh!” She turned around, surprised to see three boys her own age, and not children.

Liam ruffled Niall’s hair obnoxiously, knocking the crown to the ground, “You heard right, princess. It’s this blonde guy’s birthday.”

“He’s 18 today!” Harry chimed in with a smile.

“I’m sorry,” the actress blushed slightly for talking to them in a voice she saved for children , “Most birthdays celebrated here are for younger- well, happy birthday!”

“‘S’okay,” Niall muttered to the ground as he picked up his crown, “Thanks…”

The princess reached over to help Niall adjust the crown so it would sit right on his head, “Would you still like a picture with me? It comes framed with the knighting package.”

“Course we would!” Harry slung his arm around Niall and not-so-subtly pushed him right against the princess for their picture. "Thank you princess! We'll see you during the joust."

"Goodbye!" She gave them a warm smile and Niall swore he caught her staring at him as he was walking away. Not that he was looking or anything...

Harry walked up to the rather bored looking girl decked out in medieval attire standing behind a counter full of souvenirs. "Is this where I can sign my friend up to be knighted?"

"For his birthday!" Liam added.

The girl muttered a "yea" and pushed a book forward for Niall to sign while she recited the knighting package for at least the 20th time that night. "...And you can get one souvenir from here as a part of the package. Except the sword and shield, you'd have to pay the upgrade for that. Or you can get two goblets and the bar with fill them up with one free drink each." Harry suggested he go for the "Birthday Boy" crown, while Liam pushed for the sword and shield upgrade, but the Irish in Niall told him the goblets and free drinks were the way to go.

"I'd like a green and an orange goblet please."

"Great choice," the girl's tone did not match her words, "Would you like them wrapped?"

"Nah, that's alright!" Niall slung an arm around each of his boys, "I'm gonna treat me lads to a drink from the bar for giving me the nicest 18th birthday celebration I could ask for."

Liam snorted under his breath, "You're not fooling anyone, mate. I know you're only doing this because it's free."

Meanwhile, Harry shook his head, "Oh no! I can't take your free drinks from you, Nialler."

"That's okay!" Niall waved him off, already heading towards the bar, "You guys can just pay for my drinks in return."

Notice he said drinks. As in plural. Liam mouthed to Harry, rolling his eyes. Harry just chuckled back and gave a shrug.

~

"Wow," Harry whistled, "They most certainly did not have this...broad a selection of drinks back in the Middle Ages." Liam opened his mouth to complain, but Harry spoke before he could, "Well it's true! You can't argue with that. You can't look me in the eye and honestly tell me that the knights spent their free time drinking strawberry daiquiris." Harry gestured towards his goblet that was being topped off with strawberry slices. He did have a point. Liam may not have extensive knowledge on what people drank in the Middle Ages, but he could assume it would not have been daiquiris. He and Niall decided to go the more traditional route and get their goblets filled with beer. By the time Liam was handed his drink Niall was already ordering another one and Harry, the lightweight, was only a few sips in and already pretty tipsy. 

"I'm gonna run to the loo for just a mo' lads," Harry downed the rest of his not-so-medieval drink and slammed it down on the bar, probably a little harder than he meant to, "Try not to miss me too much when I'm gone!" He blew a kiss over his shoulder and skipped away from the bar.

"You'd better not miss my knighting ceremony!" Niall warned teasingly. Harry whipped around and gave a salute, teetering just a bit and almost knocking a crown off some kid. "Sorry 'bout that!" Harry patted the kid on her head and went on his way.

Bathroom...bathroom...bathroom, Harry chanted to himself as a reminder of what he was looking for. After a few minutes of searching and wandering, Harry finally found a door that looked like a Men's room. He hip-checked the door open and-

Oh! Well...that certainly sobered him up. Right in front of Harry's young, inexperienced, pure eyes was the nicest (and, if he was being honest, only) arse he had ever seen. It looked round and firm and delicious. Harry hoped he wasn't drooling. Under this arse was the most athletic pair of legs attached to the daintiest ankles and even tinier feet that were dancing around, trying to squeeze into medieval tights. The boy's brunette hair swished back and forth dramatically with every movement, as if he were in some shampoo commercial. Harry was so busy watching the way the fluorescent lights bounced off of the commercial worthy hair, he almost didn't notice mystery boy turning around, jumping a foot in the air, and giving a high pitched yelp.

"Oops?" Harry offered sheepishly for scaring the poor guy. 

"Hi," the guy's hand flew to his heart in shock and- wow. This guy had to have the sweetest, tiniest little hands. Harry couldn't help but imagine what that hand would look like in his...

"I'm sorry," Harry squeaked, "Did you say something?" He hoped his face wasn't as red as it felt.

The boy looked less startled and more amused, "I said ‘hi’. Can I help you?" He looked like he was holding back laughter.

Completely and utterly embarrassed, Harry looked down, mumbled something about finding a loo, and bolted towards a door that looked like it would lead to a bathroom. He quickly shut the door behind him and slid to the ground, hiding his head in shame. 

There was a gentle knock on the door, "I'm afraid you're not going to find the loo in there, love." Love. Mystery man called him love. Harry was most definitely not swooning. "That's a storage closet. All you'll find in there are more suits of armor than you could ever imagine." Sure enough, when Harry looked around he could see that he was very clearly not in a bathroom. 

Harry pushed the door open and crawled out with as much dignity as he could muster, "I knew that wasn't the bathroom." Harry thought desperately for an excuse. He wasn't as distracted now that the boy had clothes covering his body. "I...just went in there to give you a moment to change...love." Harry added that last word on impulse. 

The boy snorted with that same damn amused smirk on his face, "Sure you did..."

"Harry. 'm Harry. And you are?"

"The Blue Knight," He picked up Harry's blue crown that had rolled off his head when he crawled out of the closet. “Your knight for tonight, apparently.”

“To-knight!” Harry chuckled to himself, unable to resist a pun, “Ha! Get it?”

The knight raised his eyebrow, not quite sure what to make of this kid. 

Harry snatched his crown back and placed it on his head, "Right. Well. Anyway. Obviously I wandered into the wrong place. If you could kindly point me in the direction of the loo, I would greatly appreciate that. My mate Niall is getting knighted and I'd rather not miss his ceremony." 

"Anything you want, love," The Blue Knight winked. He gave Harry directions but Harry was too busy reliving that wink to pay any attention. The knight only had to call out 'your other right, Harold!' once. Maybe twice. 

~

Harry was walking aimlessly around Medieval Times in a love trance. He knew he should be looking for his friends, but he could not bring himself to pay any attention to his surroundings. A smack to the back of the head finally brought him back to reality. "Oi," Harry groaned once he realized it was Niall who smacked him, "What was that for?"

"You, my friend, are a proper dick." The words seemed harsh, but Harry knew Niall was joking by the way he said it. Or, at least he hoped Niall was joking. "You missed my knighting ceremony!"

Oh yeah... Well, in Harry's defense, he just ran into his actual knight in shining armor. Or lack thereof. Harry smirked to himself, remembering the way that perky little bum greeted him.

“It was so embarrassing!” Niall continued, “The person before me got this huge cheer. And then the king called my name and all you could hear was a weak “woo…” from Liam.”

“Heyyy,” Liam whined, “At least I was there!”

Niall rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. What took you so long anyways, Haz?"

Oh nothing. I just met the man of my dreams. "I got lost on the way to the bathroom and accidentally wandered into the changing room for the actors."

"See any hot knights?" Niall waggled his eyebrows obnoxiously.

Harry hesitated. 

"Oh my god. You did, didn't you?" Liam teased, poking Harry in the stomach.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry insisted, despite the fact that his burning face was probably giving away the truth, "C'mon. Let's go find our seats. I'm pretty sure they're letting people in."

~

Hidden underneath Louis’ helmet was the biggest smile he’d worn in a while. He couldn’t get that curly-haired kid out of his mind. Not when he finished getting his costume on. Not when he got his horse from out of the stables. Not when they went over which knight was going to win this performance. Not when everyone piled backstage. Even Zayn smacking the back of Louis’ helmet-covered-head couldn’t shake the image of that kid’s goofy smile.

“Owww…” Louis’ whine sounded muffled under the helmet.”What was that for, ya dick?”

“You haven’t said a word to me since you went to the locker rooms. When you’re quiet, it either means something happened or something is about to happen. Which is it, mate?”

Louis scoffed at this, “Stop acting like you know me better than I know meself.” He tried to walk away, but Zayn grabbed his shoulders, turned him around, lifted the helmet’s eye flap, and stared intently into Louis’ eyes. Louis stared right back at him, tapping his foot impatiently, “Ya done there, then?”. He really was quite the drama queen.

“Mhmm” Zayn let the flap fall with a clank, “Just what I thought.” He started to walk away.

Louis took off the helmet and ran after Zayn. Honestly, Zayn always called him dramatic; but, Louis wasn’t the one making a giant show out of everything right now. “What? What is ‘just what you thought’?”

“I was right. Something happened.” 

“What d’ya mean something happened? How did something happen without me even knowing?” 

“Bro. You’re like...the epitome of the heart eyes emoji right now.” Zayn crossed his arms with a satisfied smirk.

“Epitome of the heart ey- what does that even mean?” Louis’ voice was getting shrill; as it usually did whenever Zayn was pissing him off.

“Who’s the drop dead-gorgeous-man you met in the locker room and obviously can’t stop thinking about?”

Oh. Yeah. Right. Damn! Louis had completely forgotten Zayn’s knack for literally being able to read his mind. Especially when Louis was trying to keep something private. “I wouldn’t say ‘drop dead gorgeous,’” Louis muttered, kicking the ground.

Zayn tsked, “Louis…”, he prompted him with raised eyebrows and a knowing smirk.

“Okay. FINE. This kid is like the cutest, most adorable, sweetest person I’ve ever met. He has the biggest, floppiest mop of curly hair. Harry! His name is Harry! Isn’t that funny? Because of his huge hair? And it’s perfect for him because it’s a pun. He told me the lamest pun, but it was so fucking cute coming from him. And his eyes! Z, his eyes are like this amazing green with little flecks of gold in them. Oh my god. And he’s so tall. He had these like massive hands and feet and legs, but like, he looked so young. I only said a few words to him. Damn it. I should’ve given him my number. Or at the very least my name! I just told him I was his knight.” Louis was literally tripping over his own words. They just kept coming out. Like word vomit.

Zayn just laughed, “Like I said...heart eyes emoji,” he rumpled Louis’ hair, grabbed his apron, and headed towards the door, “I’ll keep an eye out for your Harry. You just try to focus on the show, yeah?” There was a glint in his eyes and Louis just knew Zayn was laughing at him. Grumbling to himself about what a dick Zayn was, Louis hid his red face inside his helmet.

~

After forty five minutes of being at Medieval Times, Harry realized that he had been looking for cute guys in all the wrong places his whole life. First the knight, now their waiter. That’s it! Harry thought to himself, From now on all birthdays will be celebrated at Medieval Times. 

“Who knew people looked that damn gorgeous in the Middle Ages.” Niall whistled under his breath, following Harry’s gaze.

“Oi! Enough with the jokes abou-” Liam cut off his sentence abruptly, his eyes following where Harry and Niall were looking. “Oh…” The boys were certainly not the only ones in the arena taken aback by this guy’s beauty. But he seemed totally oblivious to all the attention. He was probably one of those stunning guys that didn’t even realize how gorgeous he was. 

“Hi. Welcome to Medieval Times. ‘m Zayn. I’ll be your waiter tonight.” The waiter passed napkins and plates out to the boys. "Who're we rooting for tonight?” He nodded at their blue crowns, “The Blue Knight?" At the name of their knight, the people seated around the blue section burst out into a loud cheer. Zayn gave a weak smile and fist pump. He leaned over and whispered to the boys, "Ugh. I should've known not to announce that too loudly. We get a lot of very...enthusiastic audience members here.” He rolled his eyes playfully. 

Niall chuckled, “Honestly! I thought I was at a footie match with the way they just cheered.

Zayn widened his eyes and shook his head as if to say ‘I know right!?’ “Ah well. Anyway, my best mate Louis is your knight. I think you lads will be happy with his performance tonight.”

“Is that your way of telling us the Blue Knight is going to win?” Liam wiggled his eyebrows in, what he hoped was, an endearing way. 

“Sorry.” Zayn shook his head, “My lips are sealed. I’ll be right back with your drin-”

“WAIT!” Harry suddenly came to life, practically jumping out of his seat, “The Blue Knight? Louis? His name is Louis?”

Erhm...yeah?” Zayn was taken aback by this curly haired kid with slightly crazy looking green eyes. Wait a second…”By any chance, you wouldn’t be Harry, would you?” Zayn smirked at the kid’s confused face.

“Yeah. How did you-”

“Louis was telling me about some kid he ran into with the curliest mop of hair, the greenest eyes, and huge hands." Zayn gave Harry a knowing wink at that last comment. 

Harry sat on his hands sheepishly, trying to ignore how quickly his face was burning up, "He...he told you about me?"

Zayn nodded, totally seeing the sweetness in the kid that Louis was talking about. “He also told me you’re punny? ‘m afraid I’ll have to hear it to believe it.”

“UGH!” Liam groaned, “Please! For your sake and mine, do not get him started.”

“Oi! Be nice to wee Harold!” Niall gave his friend a cuddle at the same time Harry pouted, “Heyyy.” 

Zayn chuckled, thoroughly amused by these guys’ antics. Maybe work won’t be so bad tonight after all. “I’ll be right back with some refills, lads! Two beers and…?”

“Erhm. A strawberry daiquiri?” Harry squeaked out with a shrug. 

Zayn shook his head and smiled, “Right. Of course.” Of course this kid ordered the fruitiest drink on the menu. If Louis was the epitome of the heart eyes emoji, Harry was the epitome of the entire selection of fruit emojis; sweet and colorful.

Niall waited until Zayn was out of earshot, “Soooo...you wooed our waiter’s friend with puns, eh?” Harry groaned and hid his face in Liam’s chest.

“What happened to ‘be nice to wee Harold’?” Liam asked Niall, patting Harry’s massive curls. Niall stuck his tongue out and downed the rest of his drink.

“Ahh just in time!” Zayn said, walking over to replace their empty glasses with full ones. “He alright?” Zayn jerked his head toward Harry, who was still buried in Liam.

Liam chuckled, “Yeah he’s fine. I think just a bit embarrassed is all.”

Zayn opened his mouth to say something, closed it knowing Louis would kill him if he did, then opened it again and said it anyway. “Look, Harry.” He waited for Harry to peek out from his hiding space in Liam’s chest, “Louis would absolutely kill me for telling you this. But we’ve been working this shit job all summer. And I have never seen him so happy to be at work until like five minutes ago. So unless there’s someone else here who looks exactly like you and also accidentally walked in on him changing, I think he’d really like it if you said hi to him after the show.”

Harry mumbled something that resembled “I don’t know…”

Zayn held up a hand, “No worries, mate. You don’t have to decide now. Just an idea.” Someone sitting a few tables behind got his attention, “I’ve got to go. Work awaits. But when I come around with the food, I’ll see if I can sneak you three an extra piece of garlic bread each.”

“Thanks!” The boys chorused happily.

“No problem,” Zayn called out, throwing a wink over his shoulder. Even if he wasn’t able to help Louis get this kid, he was probably going to get a great tip at the very least. 

~

Louis had finally gotten that stupidly charming, curly haired kid out of his head just in time for the show. Okay. Who was he kidding? That was a total lie. But Zayn certainly didn’t make it any better.

“Oi! Heart eyes!” Zayn said out of nowhere.

Louis (and his horse) pretended that Zayn didn’t scare them. “What the-? What are you doing here? I’m about to go on.”

“Shut up for a sec. Blue section, first row, last table on the left."

"Wha-?"

"You're welcome, heart eyes!" Zayn blew a kiss and quickly ducked back into the area before anyone else could see. (It definitely wouldn’t have been the first time he got in trouble for sneaking backstage to hang out with Louis. In fact, Zayn was no longer allowed to be with Louis backstage during shows. Not after the incident with itching powder in all of the actors’ costumes…)

"Would you stop calling me that?" Louis muttered, basically to himself since Zayn already scurried away. He tried clearing his mind of Harry. Really, he did. It wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t get what Zayn said out of his head and found where Harry was sitting. Luckily for Louis, his helmet hid where his eyes were looking from other people. He could stare at Harry while the actress playing the princess read off the list of people celebrating birthdays that night. Not that he did that or anything, though. Louis did not smile to himself over how happy Harry looked for the blonde bloke sitting next to him when the princess wished him a happy birthday. And it wasn’t like Louis’ heart pounded when Harry nudged his friends and pointed in Louis’ direction, followed by a timid wave. No. Of course not! Louis was focused on the show. He was way too busy listening for his cue to pay any attention to Harry sneaking nervous glances his way at least 20 times. He also totally did not miss said cue. 

~

“Look! Look! Look!” Niall nudged Harry excitedly. Much like a puppy who wanted to play…”He’s looking this way!” 

“Okay! Okay! No need to point and make a huge deal out of it,” Harry swatted Niall’s hands out of the way, “Besides, we don’t even know for sure that he’s looking at me.” Liam rolled his eyes and stared at Harry, as if to say, really? “I dunno! Maybe he’s looking at Niall!” Liam tilted his head to look at Niall, who was behind Harry and currently trying to shove an entire piece of garlic bread in his mouth. He gave Harry the really? look again. “Okaaay...maybe not.”

“‘ey!” Niall said through a mouth full of bread crumbs, “I’ll haf yuh two know fhat I am quite charmfing!” 

“Yeah. I’m sure.” Liam (surprise, surprise!) rolled his eyes.

“Mhmm,” Harry couldn’t resist adding, “I’m sure if we just call that princess over she’ll agree…”

Niall silently cursed his Irish genes as his face immediately turned as red as the Red Knight’s costume. “Oi! Shut it!” He reached for Harry’s piece of garlic bread to chomp on moodily. 

“Heeey!” Harry whined.

“‘m the birthday boy!” Niall said matter of factly.

“Don’t worry birthday boy and friends!” Zayn said, making the rounds, “I have five leftover pieces of bread for you lot.”

Liam gave a huge grin and greedily grabbed two pieces from the container Zayn was holding, “Sweet! Thanks mate!”

“Yeah, sure! No problem,” Zayn gave a warm smile and leaned into Liam, “Just don’t tell my manager, yeah?”

Liam chuckled, only slightly overwhelmed by how close this incredibly attractive man was to his face, “N-no! O’ course not!” Zayn gave him a wink, and Zayn so did not swoon.

Honestly...the moment would have been quite perfect if someone a few tables back didn’t have to call Zayn over, causing him to jerk his head over, right into Liam’s chin. 

“Sorry sir! Sorry! I’ll be right with you.” Zayn called out, waving apologetically with one hand and rubbing his head with the other, “Oww...jeez. I’m sorry about that Liam.” He looked really relieved when Liam shrugged it off with a look that said, no biggie. “Oh! And Harry? Make sure you’re a good catcher. Lou always throws his rose to the cutest guy in the blue section.”

Liam waited until Zayn was out of sight before grabbing a handful of ice from Niall’s cup for his chin.

“Ugh gross! Don’t want your hands in me drink!” Niall resisted the urge to dump the rest of his drink in Liam’s lap and grabbed a piece of his bread instead, figuring that was good enough. “Oi! Haz! What’re ya doing?” He practically slapped the drink Harry was sipping from out of his hands, “Didn’t’cha hear what Zayn said? Get your hands ready. The Blue Knight is gonna throw you a rose! He’s up next!”

Harry scoffed, refusing to get his hopes up, “Zayn said he throws it to the cutest guy. How do you know it’s gonna be me? He’s not gonna- ow!” Sure enough, Louis’ rose hit him square in the eye. 

Niall gave him a cheeky, breadcrumb-filled grin, “Told’ja so.”

Harry smiled shyly to himself. This night was turning out to be just like some kind of cheesy romantic comedy. (And those were his favorite kind of movies)

~

Okay. So it might not have been the most romantic thing Louis’ ever done. But, like, the intent was totally there! And it’s the thought that counts. Right? Ugh. How was Louis supposed to know that the rose would hit Harry right in the eye? You would think that after months of this stupid job he would know how to throw a fucking rose without hitting them in the eye! Alright, but in his defense, Harry was not helping him out in the situation. He could have at least looked Louis’ way before he through it. Eye contact is key to these sort of situations. And Louis knows Zayn told Harry to catch the rose. Louis is a good lip reader and a good Zayn reader. Not that he was looking in Harry’s direction the whole time, though. Of course not! He just happened to notice Zayn telling Harry that Louis was going to throw him the rose out of the corner of his eye. Just like how Louis caught a glimpse of that heartwarming, world-stopping grin Harry gave when he looked down at Louis’ rose. 

“The...the Blue Knight!” A voice called (for the third time), pulling Louis’ attention away from where Harry was sitting. And, oh yeah! He was literally in the middle of a performance. Louis quickly rode his horse over to the center of the arena, pretending that he totally didn’t miss his cue. And fuck, Louis thought to himself once he noticed his gaze had shifted back to Harry, I’m in trouble.

~

“Please tell me you saw that.” Niall said triumphantly. (He loved being right) “He was literally so busy staring at you he forgot that he had to fight!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Harry sniffed indignantly.

“Harry…” Liam raised his eyebrow. 

“Okay. Fine!” Harry gave up his cool demeanor, because really? Who was he fooling? “You’re right! He was totally looking at me!”

Niall ruffled Harry’s hair happily. (He loved people agreeing with him even more than he loved being right.) “And why wouldn’t he? You charming little bastard, you!”

For the rest of the match, Harry could not stop smiling. Every time Louis looked his way, he would throw him a little wave, or wink, or kiss. Even Niall and Liam joined in, pretending to swoon whenever their knight won a round. The three lead the blue section in a wave in support of Louis being one of the final two knights. 

“C’moooon Blue Knight!” Liam cheered, raising his goblet.

“Kick the Red Knight’s ass!” Niall chanted aggressively.

Harry gave one loud Hah! and quickly covered his face with his hands, positively giddy at how much fun he was having.

Zayn was passing out pieces of pie nearby, silently thankful that the Blue Knight was supposed to win tonight. It was no surprise to him that Louis got a standing ovation (led by Harry, Niall, and Liam of course) after the final, “deadly” stab. Even Zayn had to join in on the cheers! He could lie and say it was because he was proud of his best mate; but really it was because Harry and his friends were so damn funny and charming, it was impossible to be cool and brooding around them.

~

Usually, after a show, Louis took his time making his way over to the lobby for the meet and greet. Don’t get him wrong, it was fun taking pictures with all the little kids that were his “biggest fans”. And a little extra acting practice never hurt. But he usually liked a few minutes to himself after spending the past hour or so either sitting on a horse or being jabbed at with swords.

Tonight, however, Louis hauled ass to the lobby just so he would be the first one out there. 

The princess saw him and smirked, “Waiting for someone special? I saw you looking at that curly haired kid in your section.”

“Oi! Shut up wouldja?” They were friends, so Louis was allowed to be mean to her. (Or at least that’s what he justified to himself)

“No, but seriously,” the actress continued after a fit of giggles, “He seems like a nice kid. They all do. I met them when they came in! It’s the blonde one’s birthday today.” She said fondly. A little too fondly. If Louis wasn’t so preoccupied, he would make a comment. “Hey! Maybe you should invite them out to dinner with us? I’m sure Zayn wouldn’t mind. I saw him talking to them in the arena.”

Louis tried to remain cool, “Yeah, yeah. We’ll see.” And luckily a little boy came running up for a hug and picture before his friend could tease him anymore. Louis ruffled the kid’s hair, thankful for the distraction. 

“Your majesty,” Louis bowed down to the child, pretending to just notice his crown, “I hope you were pleased with today’s events?”

The kid nodded eagerly and proceeded to tell Louis that he wanted to be just like him when he grew up.

“Me? You want to be like me?” Louis opened his mouth to form a perfect O, “I want to be just like you!” This absolutely delighted the kid. He spent a few minutes pretending to fight Louis with his souvenir sword before other kids came over to take a picture with the Blue Knight. Louis pretended not to notice a mop of curly hair at the end of the line for his meet and greet. He also pretended not to notice that same mop of curly hair entertaining the kids while they waited in line to meet Louis. 

Louis did not, however, pretend not to notice when the end of the line came and there was no Harry. Where did he go? Louis whipped his head around furiously and-

“Oops!” he walked smack dab into a mop of curly hair.

“Hi!” Harry chuckled as he bent down to pick up the blue crown Louis knocked off of him, “Looking for someone?”

“What? No! No. I I uh” Louis was stuttering. Who was he? He never stuttered. 

“Great show mate! I loved when you had the Green Knight pinned against the wall,” snapback boy from Harry’s table stuck his hand out, “‘m Liam.”

Louis grabbed it with a smile, “Yes, yes. I recognize you. You’re the one who started the wave.” He looked over at the blonde guy, “And you must be the birthday boy?”

“Niall. Thanks for winning on my birthday.”

“Anytime mate.” He patted Niall’s back. Louis looked over at Harry, who was grinning ear to ear, he couldn’t help but smile right back at him. “I see you got my rose,” He reached his hand out to touch where Harry had stuck the rose behind his ear. “Looks good on you.”

“Yeah. Though I think I like it better behind my ear than in my eye,” Harry waggled his eyebrows.

“Oh shut it!” Louis laughed, already feeling like he could have a bit of banter with this kid. Zayn walked up from behind and slung an arm around Louis’ neck, “Hey, you prick! Careful not to crush the costume.”

Zayn rolled his eyes (in a very Liam-esque fashion, Harry noted), “Whatever you say, heart eyes.” Harry tilted his head as if to ask, but Louis waved it off, signaling that Zayn didn’t know what he was talking about. “Anyways, I’m glad you lot met!”

“Me too…” Harry and Louis said at the same time. Both boys blushed slightly as their friends laughed.

“I was thinking,” Zayn continued once the laughter died down, “that you boys might want to grab something to eat? We usually go out to this great diner after our shows.” He gestured towards Louis and the princess who was making her way over.

“Yes!” Niall said enthusiastically, following Zayn’s gaze towards the princess.

Liam smiled over at Zayn and (for once) was a lot cooler than Niall, “I’d like that.”

Louis turned to Harry expectantly, who said, “Yes, but only on one condition. You have to leave your Knight costume on!”

“Ha!” Louis shook his head, “There is nothing anyone can do to convince me to stay in this hot, heavy costume any longer than I have to.”

“I dunno…” Harry whispered under his breath, so only Louis can hear, “I could probably think of a few ways to convince you.”

Louis’ expression changed, but he quickly covered it up with a cough, “Right. Well. I should probably go change before we head to this diner, yeah? Harold? Would you be a dear and come...help me...with my zipper! Yeah, I can never reach the thing.” He held his arm out for Harry. Their friends pretended not to notice Louis’ lame excuse for Harry tagging along. 

“I would be honored, Blue Knight,” Harry said with a deep bow. They waited until they knew they were out of sight to change their calm stroll to a fast run towards the dressing room. The two couldn’t even wait for the door to completely shut before Louis’ hands were in Harry’s hair and Harry’s mouth was on Louis’ neck. When the door did shut, though, they were sure to stay pressed against it in order to prevent anyone from barging in looking for the loo or something crazy like that.


End file.
